Jurgen Klopp was in good spirits considering Liverpool’s gut-wrenching FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, with the Reds boss jokingly asking in his post-match press conference whether a dummy United contract left lying around in the media room was ‘for him’ ahead of his Anfield exit at the end of the season.
The climax of Liverpool’s blockbuster FA Cup quarter-final meeting with bitter rivals United certainly didn’t give Klopp much to smile about. Amad Diallo scored a 121st-minute winner for Erik ten Hag’s side in a 4-3 victory after extra-time, sparking bedlam at Old Trafford.
Klopp’s hopes of clinching the FA Cup for a second time in his final season at the helm were crushed in an instant, with the 56-year-old preparing for time away from the game after almost a decade on Merseyside.
He still found time for a joke, perhaps through gritted teeth, as he walked into his press conference. Stumbling upon a dummy United contract that had been left lying on a table, Klopp asked: “For me?”
The former Borussia Dortmund boss wasn’t so friendly with every reporter, bizarrely telling one that he is ‘not in great shape’, but he admitted in the immediate aftermath of the game that United deserved their spot in the semi-finals. “Our decision making was not great,” Klopp told the BBC. “But you have to accept the result.
“They deserve to go to the next round. It was a period in the second half when we should have finished it but we didn’t and we know they could come back.
“I think my boys showed incredible character again. Super effort again. Everybody showed it. You cannot compare our season to United’s with the amount of games. It’s fine, we deal with it. Now, the boys go on international duty.”
Klopp and his Liverpool stars may be in for a sleepless night this evening after letting their lead slip on enemy territory. Despite Scott McTominay’s early goal, they were in the driver’s seat for the vast majority of the second half thanks to goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah at the end of the first.
Antony forced extra-time after coming off the bench to score, at which point the Reds looked to have won it again when Harvey Elliott found the bottom corner from distance.
Marcus Rashford had other ideas, however, slotting past Caoimhin Kelleher before youngster Amad Diallo produced a career highlight that will take some beating by firing in at the far post.
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